Suspect arrested in connection with shooting deaths of siblings

By Dan Wallach

Updated 5:56 pm, Monday, March 17, 2014

Joe Frederick Hawkins was apprehended and booked Monday on charges of aggravated assault stemming from Sunday's triple homicide in Beaumont. Hawkins is the brother of Anthony Ray Hawkins, 33, Reshowna Hawkins, 34, and Darrell Hawkins, 34 who were shot and killed at a home on Fourth Street.
Photo taken Monday, March 17, 2014
Guiseppe Barranco/@spotnewsshooter
Photo: Guiseppe Barranco, Photo Editor

Joe Frederick Hawkins was apprehended and booked Monday on charges...

Three pinwheels were put in the yard where three siblings were gunned down in South Beaumont on Sunday. The siblings names are written on the pinwheels. Beaumont police are searching for a man believed to be the gunman.
Photo taken Monday, March 17, 2014
Guiseppe Barranco/@spotnewsshooter
Photo: Guiseppe Barranco, Photo Editor

Three pinwheels were put in the yard where three siblings were...

Two floral crosses were put in the yard where three siblings were gunned down in South Beaumont on Sunday. Beaumont police are searching for a man believed to be the gunman.
Photo taken Monday, March 17, 2014
Guiseppe Barranco/@spotnewsshooter
Photo: Guiseppe Barranco, Photo Editor

Two floral crosses were put in the yard where three siblings were...

Several large blood splatters can be seen in the yard where three siblings were gunned down in South Beaumont on Sunday. The incident occurred on the 3700 block of Fourth Street.
Photo taken Monday, March 17, 2014
Guiseppe Barranco/@spotnewsshooter
Photo: Guiseppe Barranco, Photo Editor

Beaumont police escorted a handcuffed and bewildered Joe Frederick Hawkins down the back steps of the police station into a waiting black-and-white Tahoe for the ride to the Jefferson County jail with multiple charges pending against him.

Earlier in the day, police arrested Hawkins, wanted for questioning in connection with the shooting deaths of his sister and two brothers on Sunday afternoon on South Fourth Street where a fourth person also was shot in the shoulder.

Asked if he committed the murders, Hawkins stared at the ground and softly said, "I'm sorry."

He said he loved his mother as police escorted him away and a passing freight train blew its horn.

Asked if he killed his brothers and sister, Hawkins said, "What happened?"

Three pinwheels appeared today - almost unnoticed - next to two small floral crosses set up earlier in the curbside yard of 3720 S. Fourth St.

Krishara Bennett, who said her second cousin, Jessica Hawkins, survived the shooting, said it most likely was a case of sibling rivalry gone tragically bad.

Among the dead are brothers Darrell and Anthony "Tony T" Hawkins and sister Reshowna Hawkins.

The pinwheels' blades carry the messages "RIP," and "Pear Orchard" along with the names of the people who were killed.